Hwanghae (2010)

Director:

Hong-jin Na

Writer:

Hong-jin Na (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 December 2011 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

The story of a cab driver in Yanji City, a region between North Korea, China and Russia. His wife goes to Korea to earn money...

Plot Keywords:

Shot In The Arm | Axe In The Head | Finger Cut Off | Chase | Blood Spatter

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Jung-woo Ha
Yun-seok Kim
Seong-Ha Cho
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chul-Min Lee
Jae-hwa Kim	...	Girlfriend of Myeon Jeong Hak (uncredited)

Directed by
Hong-jin Na

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Hong-jin Na		screenplay

Produced by
Jong-eun Byun	....	executive producer
Dae-hoon Chung	....	line producer
Sung-goo Han	....	producer
Jung-hoon You	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Young-kyu Jang
Byung-hoon Lee

Cinematography by
Sung-je Lee

Film Editing by
Sun-min Kim

Production Design by
Hwo-Kyoung Lee

Costume Design by
Kyung-hwa Chae

Makeup Department
Yon-young Yan	....	makeup artist

Sound Department
Romain Bigorgne	....	sound effects editor
Tae-young Choi	....	sound re-recording mixer
Tae-young Choi	....	supervising sound editor
Yong Oh Choi	....	foley mixer
Kim Dong-Han	....	sound effects editor
Woo-jin Jo	....	sound recordist
Hye Young Kang	....	sound designer
Byung In Kim	....	dialogue editor
Chung Gyu Lee	....	foley artist
Su Hyun Lee	....	sound effects editor
Yong Ki Park	....	adr mixer
Yong Ki Park	....	sound re-recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Jai-hoon Cheong	....	visual effects
Tae-hoon Kim	....	vfx technical supervisor
Hyuk Lee	....	cgi marketing
Eui Dong Park	....	vfx technical supervisor
Jang Jin Park	....	visual effects producer
Hee Jung Ryu	....	visual effects executive producer

Camera and Electrical Department
Soon-wuk Hwang	....	lighting technician

Editorial Department
Gilbert Carreras	....	color timer

Other crew
Anna Kokourina	....	studio executive
Sang-seob Yoo	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Wellmade Starm
• Popcorn Films
• Showbox/Mediaplex (in association with)
• Fox International Productions (FIP) (in association with)
• Location Incentive Program of Pusan Film Commission (support)
• Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (support)
• Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (support)

Distributors

• Mediatres Estudio (2011) (Spain) (all media)
• Mediatres Estudio (2011) (Andorra) (all media)
• 20th Century Fox of Germany (2012) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Bounty Films (2011) (Bahamas) (theatrical)
• Klock Worx Company, The (2012) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Le Pacte (2011) (France) (theatrical)
• Showbox/Mediaplex (2011) (South Korea) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (2011) (South Korea) (theatrical)
• Wild Side Films (2011) (France) (theatrical)
• Fox World Cinema (2012) (USA) (DVD)

Special Effects

• NEXT Visual Studio (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Live Tone  sound
• Seoul Metropolitan Government  funding
• Seoul Film Commission  funding

Also Known As:

"The Yellow Sea" - International (English title) (imdb display title)
"Ölüm Denizi" - Turkey (Turkish title) (imdb display title)
"The Murderer" - France (imdb display title)
"The Yellow Sea" - Germany (imdb display title)
"The Yellow Sea" - Sweden (imdb display title)

MPAA:

Rated R for brutal bloody violence, some strong sexuality, nudity, and language

Runtime:

157 min | (None):140 min (international version) | USA:136 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Singapore:R21 | UK:18 | Japan:R15+ | Ireland:18 | Australia:R | France:-12 (with warning) | USA:R

Company:

Wellmade Starm

shockingly good, well directed, well performed

another near perfect thriller out of south Korea. i don't know what and how most movie festivals giving out award, but all movies directed by this director and screenplays written by this specific several movies directed by this specific director, the screenplay writer(s), both should have received the highest honors of awards. based upon my forty years movie viewing experience, i've never seen anything like these kind of well written, well directed and well performed korean movies. these movies mentioned by other reviewers are just on different level, making hollwood's films in similar genre like worthless garbage. watching every one of these movies just became a psychiatric treatment, the perfect and ultimate catharsis to drain the stress caused by the financial burden and bore-to-death day in and day out urban living, because nobody could be more down and out like the main characters portrayed in these movies, and not any common person, you or me, could be less lucky like these characters faced in their lives. korean movie thrillers are just so uniquely different from other countries, in my opinion, they are definitely on a higher level, higher than where the Hollywood, bollywood, Japanese, Chinese stand. because every time when i finished a korean movie like 'the yellow sea', 'the man from nowhere', 'i saw the devil'....i felt the stress that constantly burdened on my mind and shoulders would go away temporarily, i actually felt better and more alive. no other country's movies could have such catharsis-like effect.

highly recommended to those who got the similar burden like me.